A Publisher's Confession

"a publisher is a business man . . . a professional man also. He can do his best service only for those authors who inspire his loyalty, who enable him to make his publishing house permanent, and who leave him enough margin of profit to permit him to make books of which he can be proud."
-Walter Hines Page, A Publisher's Confession
A Publisher's Confession (1905) by Walter Hines Page, vice president of Doubleday, Page & Co. when the book appeared, was released anonymously. This allowed the author to discuss the flaws and mistakes of his colleagues and clients. In the author's view, publishers at the time were more concerned with the cost of manufacturing than the content of the titles they published, and Page was praised for revealing corruption within the industry.